So do his players, especially the All-Pros like Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyiora.

They’ve heard all the tales about how the Giants were always among the best defenses in he NFL back in the 1960s and early ‘70s, even when when they weren’t winning many games.

So you can imagine how it hurt their pride last Sunday to hear their own coach — Tom Coughlin — call them soft when they let the Pittsburgh Steelers run through them in front of the home crowd in a loss that snapped a four-game winning streak.

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A few days later, they read about how Bengals wideout A.J. Green, whom they will be facing Sunday in Cincinnati, said the Giants’ secondary had “plenty of holes” that he planned to exploit.

So you can imagine how Fewell and his defensive unit felt this week after being thrown under the bus.

“Any time you lose a football game and you felt like you should’ve won a football game, it’s not a good mood. We saw the mistakes we made. The mood was, we let a football game get away,” Fewell said the other day when he went before the firing squad and got critiqued by his toughest critics — the Giants’ press corps.

So you can guess how the defensive guru felt all week listening to shots from every side, wanting to know how his group, which prides itself on hard hitting and solid tackling, could have missed 12 tackles against Pittsburgh.

“I’m not happy. We made mistakes that are correctable mistakes that shouldn’t really have happened. We all felt responsible for that loss,” said Fewell.

“I thought that we didn’t shed (blocks) well and didn’t tackle well. We could’ve tackled a hell of a lot better. We could’ve shed a hell of a lot better to make some plays.

So how does he plan to make amends and get back a win that would send the G-Men into their bye week with at least a 2 1/2-game lead in the NFC East?

Does Fewell really know what Giants defense has always meant since the days of Sam Huff, Rosey Brown, Dick Lynch and that pre-L.T and Harry Carson bunch?

What is his definition of Giants defense?

“Eleven to the ball, hard-hitting defense. Never say die. Obviously, we want to take the football away, turn the football over. We want to be relentless in our pursuit and swarm to the football,” he answered.

The G-Men haven’t always done that.

“We weren’t tied together,” claimed Pierre-Paul. “You’re playing football, not basketball. It’s not a one-man game. If one person does something wrong, it messes up the whole defense.

“So basically we’ve just got to get everybody on the right track. You can’t be selfish at all. People on this team were being kind of selfish and did their individual things, but this is football.

“This is not a one-man game, not a one-man show,” continued Pierre-Paul, who at times looks like he’s the only effective pass rusher Big Blue has.

“I think we’ve showed lapses in play. I think there’s holes in every defense. If you’re a good offense you’ll exploit what the defense gives you. All that says to me and says to our players is that we need to play better.

“When you break it down and watch film, you see we’re not all tied together,” explains Pierre-Paul. “That’s something that can be corrected, and we’re doing that this week. Sunday you’re going to see how if we play different.”

Today’s Sunday, and for the Giants, it’s ‘D Day’.

That’s ‘D’ as in defense, something the G-Men better get back to playing immediately.